From big, fat barn spiders to their yellow garden cousins,

between now and Halloween we will be seeing more spiders around

our yards.

The first hard frost will kill them, but now they are mating and

producing egg sacs that will overwinter and re-establish the

population next spring.

The most commonly seen ones are orb-weaver spiders with large webs.

Barn spiders (Araneus cavaticus) can be found on porches, where

flying insects attracted to porch lights get trapped in their

webs. These spiders are nocturnal, constructing a new web every

evening and taking it down before dawn. This rusty brown spider

has legs extending about 2 inches, making it look large and

noticeable. These spiders hide during the day, but at night are

found in the middle of the web, waiting for insects to be trapped.

The yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia) is one of the longest

spiders in Georgia. It is frequently found in gardens and around

shrubbery, where it constructs large webs to trap flying insects.

The abdomen has distinctive yellow and black markings while the

front part of the body, the cephalothorax, is white. The female

typically remains in one spot throughout her life, repairing and

reconstructing her web as it is damaged and ages. Her web may

have a distinctive zigzag of silk through the middle, explaining

its other common name, “writing spider.”

Unlike the nocturnal barn spider, the yellow garden spider can be

found in its web anytime. Sometimes a smaller spider will be

found in the web with her; this is the male.

These spiders have been present all summer, eating pest insects

and growing. By late summer, they are large enough that people

start noticing them.

Georgia has more than 800 species of spiders, all of which are

harmless if you leave them alone. All spiders are more afraid of

you than you are of them.

(Nancy Hinkle is a professor of entomology and Cooperative

Extension veterinary entomologist with the University of Georgia

College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)

(Nancy Hinkle is a Cooperative Extension entomologist with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Enviromental Sciences.)